Another Time and Place
by wibblywobblywesteros
Summary: The Doctor has an important mission for Captain Jack Harkness. The fate of three planets depends on it.
1. Chapter 1

Captain Jack Harkness heard the sound of the TARDIS before he saw it begin to materialize. It had been a long time since he'd last seen The Doctor. The TARDIS stood solid in front of him and he waited for the Doctor to come out, he wasn't going to chase after him, not this time. Finally the Doctor poked his head out.

"Aren't you coming inside?"

Jack joined him in the ship. The Doctor looked different, he had regenerated again.

"Believe it or not, I just met the future Captain Jack Harkness and he sent me here to give you a message." The Doctor said.

"Coming from you, I believe it. But isn't that against the rules, messages from myself in the future?"

"No. Well not exactly. And it didn't exactly come from you anyhow, the message is from your wife."

"No." Jack shook his head. "I'm not getting married again. I won't have a future wife."

"Yes, you will." The Doctor insisted. "You don't want to change this timeline Jack. She is...beautiful... quite lovely...and just as you, she can not die."

"Okay, I'm listening." Jack crossed his arms.

"Later today you'll take a ship to Klaydon Four. Alana is there. All you have to do is save her."

"From what?"

"I should warn you, this part is not pleasant. Alana is has been a slave for many years by now, but she it isn't a housemaid or anything as kind as that. A very powerful Klaydonian man named Ket discovered that she can not die and he has made himself rich making her serve the Noed population who work the mines."

"The Noed, those are those huge guys with the violent mating rituals." Jack said still not quite putting the whole story together.

"Yes, and there are thousands of them on Klaydon Four. All of them males, who are paid high wages to work the mines. As you can imagine, their mating rituals would easily kill a normal human woman." The Doctor had tears in his eyes. "But not her. She has as many as thirty Noeds sent, one by one, to her cell every day. For each one, Ket makes a great deal of money...You have to go and save her... if I could, I would go myself, but it's meant to be you, it always was."

Jack understood that The Doctor was talking about more than just saving Alana. He wondered how deep his feelings for her went, if perhaps the two had a history.

"I know what you're thinking." The Doctor went on. "It isn't like that. It never was, at least not for her. She will always love you and you alone."

"I haven't even met her yet. You could have taken my place...I would have never known."

"The universe would know. It has to be you. Your child is going to be impossible to kill, just like his parents. He has to exist. The fate of three planets depends on it. That's all I can say about it. Now you need to prepare to go. Bring plenty of weapons, she is well guarded." The Doctor was opening the door of the TARDIS, ushering Jack out.

Before he could even say goodbye, the Doctor was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Klaydon Four was a dark world. The atmosphere was cloudy, blocking much of the sunlight. If that wasn't enough, the air was filled with dust from the constant drillings of the mines. Ket was a popular man and wasn't difficult to find. Jack waited until dark and then made his way toward the warehouse where the Noeds had rumored "the strong woman" to be held. Then he put on his costume. Dressed as a Noed, the guards let him inside without question. He paid his fee, and was taken to a room to wait. Apparently he was third in line. Two hours passed and a guard came to lead him down a long hallway, to the door of a cell. Inside the cell was darker than the hall had been. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light. There were bloodstains all over the room. Then he saw her, she sat curled up in the far corner of the room, unclothed, head on her knees, eyes filled with fear.

Jack immediately pulled the head off of his costume, revealing his human face. "My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I'm here to get you out of here."

Because the costume had to be so large to resemble a Noed, Jack had been able to hide a lot of things inside it. The first thing he did was toss Alana some clothes. She dressed quickly while he removed the costume and began pulling weapons out of the pockets where he had stuffed them. Four guns, two knives, and a few other tools. Two of the guns were quite large and had been disassembled in order to fit. She knelt on the floor beside him and began assembling one of them as if she had been born doing it. Jack grinned, impressed.

They signaled the guard and he came to open the door. Jack had planned to stun him but Alana didn't give him the chance. Within seconds she had pinned the guard to the wall, knife to his throat.

"I could kill you now, you bastard" She said to him, her accent clearly Russian. "Every day you let those creatures in here to torture me. Every day for nine years!"

"I..I was just...just following orders." He whimpered. "I brought you food sometimes."

She pushed the knife a little closer, pricking his neck. "Do you really think that absolves you?"

"Uh...no..."

Disgusted, Alana took the gun from her waistband, shooting him on stun as Jack had planned.

They made their way down the long hallway to the front door, shooting the guards who tried to stop them along the way. At the front door, there were more guards than inside, both Jack and Alana were shot several times but they made it out and ran for the cover of the trees. Just as they reached the treeline, one last shot took Alana down. Jack picked her up and carried her unconscious to cover.

It was an hour before she resurrected, gasping for breath. Jack was relieved, he had been worried that perhaps she was only human after all.

"Where are we she asked?" Having caught her breath. "Are they gone?"

"We're in the forest somewhere. No one seems to be searching for us yet."

"Who are you Captain Jack Harkness? Why did you risk your life for me?"

"It wasn't much of a risk. I was shot too, remember? I'm fine now, just like you."

"My god, I didn't think there was anyone else..."

"Neither did I, until a friend told me otherwise. You know, he didn't even tell me your whole name."

"It's Alana Rostov."

It was then that he noticed her eyes. "I thought you were Russian, but you're eyes are purple."

"I was born in Russia, yes. I am only half human. The eyes, and the inability to die seem to be my only alien qualities." She told him. "So what will we do now?"

"I have a ride off this planet if you want to come with me."

She bit her lip, glancing back in the direction of the place that had been her prison. She nodded. "Yes, I'll come."

He smiled.

"Thank you." Alana took his hand, tears in her eyes. "Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack and Alana were alone on the small ship. She sat curled up on one of the seats, head on her knees, and barefoot, much like she had been when he first found her. She stared off into space, lost in her own thoughts. The Doctor had been right, she was indeed beautiful.

"You okay?" Jack asked her.

"I don't know..." Her voice was breaking, a few tears spilled out onto her cheeks. "Nine years is a long time...it's all over with and I still feel afraid..."

"Come here." Jack helped her to her feet and he hugged her. At first she was stiff, but she relaxed after a minute and began to let her tears flow. Soon she was sobbing in his arms. He held her for a long while until she seemed to be at peace.

He didn't touch her again after that for a long time. Their journey to the nearest planet would take several weeks on this small ship. They spent much of the time talking and getting to know each other better. One day she was checking through the ship's computer and she discovered something, music.

"Jack, look." She told him, starting a song. Then he asked her to dance. After a few fun songs, the music slowed and Jack put his arms around her, pulling her body closer to his. She lay her head on his shoulder, enjoying the closeness. As the music came to an end she looked up at him and he bent closer and kissed her, deeply and longingly. When they parted she looked up at him then kissed him again, more passionately than before. Soon they found themselves in bed. Jack was careful to be gentle with her. After all she had been through under Ket, he was afraid that she would panic. She didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

From the moment Nate was born, Jack and Anna suspected he might be like them, immortal. But it wasn't as if they were going to run medical tests on him or hurt him just to find out, so they waited to see and to tell him. Once he started walking, Nate's bumps and bruises healed rather quickly. When he flipped his bike as young boy, he should have had broken his arm but instead he walked away unscathed. Then one day at thirteen years old, Nate came home from a friend's house and wasn't acting like his cheerful charismatic self. He came through the front door, kicked it shut behind him and stomped off to his room. Anna was reading a book while dinner cooked. She knew something was odd about her son's behaviour.

"Nate? Are you alright?" She called out.

He didn't answer her. She went up to his room and knocked on the door. "Are you okay Nate?" She asked him from the other side of the door. He still didn't answer so she gently opened the door and peeked inside. Nate lay across his bed face down. She suspected he was crying. "What happened?"

"I got in a fight." He said, still not moving even to look at her.

Anna went in and turned his desk chair so she could sit by the bed. "And did you provoke this fight or did the other party deserve it?"

"It was self defense." He said.

"And they will be okay? Their wounds will heal?"

"Yes Mom. The other guys are fine." He said, half annoyed.

"So what exactly is the problem?"

After a bit more silence, Nate sat up on his bed to face her. "I got pushed out a window at the old Dalton Warehouse…. you won't believe me if I told you the rest of it…"

"You might be surprised at the things I'd believe."

Still he hesitated. "I was on the third floor...The glass in the window broke...when I landed I found that a big shard had pierced straight through my chest...I mean it was all the way through… and it was sticking out my back... I should be dead from the fall alone… but I pulled it out and watched my body heal… the guys saw it too… they got so freaked out they just ran…but I swear, it really did happen like that…"

"I believe you." Anna told him reassuringly.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. I had a similar experience myself when I was your age… your father and I weren't sure if you were going to be like that or not so we didn't tell you… but now that we are sure, there are lot of things we need to explain to you...I don't even know where to begin…"


End file.
